No progress on ending the deadlock on Doha round
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Fazle Rashid in New York
THE Group of Twenty (G-20) world leaders, meeting in London at summit level, fought back determinedly the deep divides in the group and pledged $1.1 trillion in fresh funds to emerging nations to resurrect the paralysed global economy.
The world's richest 20 nations have agreed on three points; (1) bailing out developing economies (2) stimulating world trade and (3) regularising stringently the financial companies. President Obama did not waste any time to warn that there were no reasons for any bloated hope, saying there is no guarantee that the new measures would reverse the biggest global downturn in 60 years.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), shorn of cash for a long time, will be richer by $500 billion.. The IMF's principal goal will be to revive a collapsing global trade which is expected to contract for the first time in 30 years. IMF will create, out of that fund, a Special Drawing Right (SDR) worth $250 billion. China has agreed to pay $40 billion to IMF funds. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the host of G20 summit and who worked tirelessly for the success of the meeting, described the outcome as the emergence of "new world order". President Obama painted the outcome "as bolder and more rapid than any international response that we have seen to a financial crisis in memory" and added it would be "a turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery".
There was unanimity on cracking down on tax havens. The proposed remedies, some critics said, treat some peripheral effects of the crisis rather than its thorniest causes. The leaders have remained silent about how to address the vexing problem of the toxic assets in the banks The meeting eased fears that leaders would repeat the failure of a similar gathering in 1933 which was followed by a surge of protectionism that prolonged the great depression, the New York Times (NYT) in a report said.
No headway was made in ending problems blocking successful completion of the Doha round of talks. G20 leaders who met in Washington last November had promised to end the deadlock. G20 leaders in London only reiterated their desire to reach an urgently needed Doha deal but set no deadline.
G20 leaders, however, have endorsed the decision to "name and shame" offenders who have erected trade barriers. The pledge made in the November meeting that no new trade barriers would be created has been violated with impunity.
Meanwhile, Maurice Greenberg, the former chairman of the US insurance giant American International Group (AIG) which has taken close to $170 billion of government money, dropped a bombshell stating that the bailout had failed and that tax payers would have been better off letting the company go bankrupt. International Business Machines, more famously known by its acronym IBM, which only a few days ago announced it would cut 5000 jobs, now seems to be healthy and is working out details to acquire arch rival Sun Microsystems for nearly $7.0 billion. General Motors (GM) is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection if it cannot come out of the court.
The US senate adopted a resolution urging the Federal Reserve to disclose how much money it is lending to individual financial institutions under its multi-billion dollar lending programme.
All time is good time for fraud, scams and stealing. Julius Meinl, a banker in Vienna has been accused of artificially bolstering shares of his real estate company although he had made no substantial investment.
He has been accused of involvement in a $3.0 billion euro fraud . His attorney said his client was innocent. He will pay $135 million for being enlarged on bail.
In another development, new foreign minister of Israel Avigdor Liberman, a hawk, has been questioned for seven hours as a part of the long-standing investigation into suspicions of bribery, money laundering and breach of trust. Avigdor, in his first day in office, ignited controversy saying Israel was not obliged to support American-brockered peace in the region.
THE Group of Twenty (G-20) world leaders, meeting in London at summit level, fought back determinedly the deep divides in the group and pledged $1.1 trillion in fresh funds to emerging nations to resurrect the paralysed global economy.
The world's richest 20 nations have agreed on three points; (1) bailing out developing economies (2) stimulating world trade and (3) regularising stringently the financial companies. President Obama did not waste any time to warn that there were no reasons for any bloated hope, saying there is no guarantee that the new measures would reverse the biggest global downturn in 60 years.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), shorn of cash for a long time, will be richer by $500 billion.. The IMF's principal goal will be to revive a collapsing global trade which is expected to contract for the first time in 30 years. IMF will create, out of that fund, a Special Drawing Right (SDR) worth $250 billion. China has agreed to pay $40 billion to IMF funds. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the host of G20 summit and who worked tirelessly for the success of the meeting, described the outcome as the emergence of "new world order". President Obama painted the outcome "as bolder and more rapid than any international response that we have seen to a financial crisis in memory" and added it would be "a turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery".
There was unanimity on cracking down on tax havens. The proposed remedies, some critics said, treat some peripheral effects of the crisis rather than its thorniest causes. The leaders have remained silent about how to address the vexing problem of the toxic assets in the banks The meeting eased fears that leaders would repeat the failure of a similar gathering in 1933 which was followed by a surge of protectionism that prolonged the great depression, the New York Times (NYT) in a report said.
No headway was made in ending problems blocking successful completion of the Doha round of talks. G20 leaders who met in Washington last November had promised to end the deadlock. G20 leaders in London only reiterated their desire to reach an urgently needed Doha deal but set no deadline.
G20 leaders, however, have endorsed the decision to "name and shame" offenders who have erected trade barriers. The pledge made in the November meeting that no new trade barriers would be created has been violated with impunity.
Meanwhile, Maurice Greenberg, the former chairman of the US insurance giant American International Group (AIG) which has taken close to $170 billion of government money, dropped a bombshell stating that the bailout had failed and that tax payers would have been better off letting the company go bankrupt. International Business Machines, more famously known by its acronym IBM, which only a few days ago announced it would cut 5000 jobs, now seems to be healthy and is working out details to acquire arch rival Sun Microsystems for nearly $7.0 billion. General Motors (GM) is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection if it cannot come out of the court.
The US senate adopted a resolution urging the Federal Reserve to disclose how much money it is lending to individual financial institutions under its multi-billion dollar lending programme.
All time is good time for fraud, scams and stealing. Julius Meinl, a banker in Vienna has been accused of artificially bolstering shares of his real estate company although he had made no substantial investment.
He has been accused of involvement in a $3.0 billion euro fraud . His attorney said his client was innocent. He will pay $135 million for being enlarged on bail.
In another development, new foreign minister of Israel Avigdor Liberman, a hawk, has been questioned for seven hours as a part of the long-standing investigation into suspicions of bribery, money laundering and breach of trust. Avigdor, in his first day in office, ignited controversy saying Israel was not obliged to support American-brockered peace in the region.